


a hundred red balloons (a thousand sleepless nights)

by neonmoonlight



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 1D Reverse Bang 2017, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Bob Ross the Second (he's a dog), Insomnia, M/M, Meddling Friends, Meet-Cute, liam and harry just want whats best for louis really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 10:58:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12431349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonmoonlight/pseuds/neonmoonlight
Summary: The nights where they got to walk around were some of Louis’ favorite. The two of them would just walk in companionable silence for the most of it, Louis doling bits of his life back home before he moved out for university. Some of his favorite times to walk around the city were the hot and humid nights after a rainstorm when everything was soupy and kind of hazy around the edges. Those nights were soaked in the weird orange color of the streetlamps and tasted like milkshakes and salty fries Louis was fond of getting at the diner near his apartment building.Louis felt as if Niall was a gift from the universe sometimes.or the one with vague magic, lirry being meddling mom friends, a dog named Bob Ross the Second, binge watching questionable shows, sunrises and sunsets and nouis being soft with each other.





	a hundred red balloons (a thousand sleepless nights)

**Author's Note:**

> its finally here!!!
> 
> a thousands thanks to [ Ash](https://babyashleym.tumblr.com) for being the best beta i could ask for and also letting me do the art for her bandom big bang fic and also also dealing with my own insomnia (which is really just my shit sleep schedule).
> 
> another shout out to my gc for being amazing cheer people, love u guys.
> 
> and the biggest shout out ever to [ Nina](https://pattern-pals.tumblr.com) for the amazing [artwork](http://grapesodalou.tumblr.com/post/166618188237/grapesodalou-a-hundred-red-balloons-a-thousand) which i immediately fell in love with when i saw it and knew i had to claim to write this fic for. (small note: ive been a fan of their art for a while now and cant wait till i have money so i can buy some stuff of their redbubble but shhhh)
> 
> enough preamble, enjoy the fic!

Louis knew that his sleep schedule wasn’t the most ideal, but he didn’t really mind it at all. Harry would argue that the bags and discoloration under Louis’ eyes from lack of sleep would beg to differ. But he prefers to look at the two or three hours of sleep he gets at night as an opportunity for more time to work, or well, more realistically, more time to watch Netflix. 

Harry has repeatedly told him that he should brew up a sleeping potion, or at least buy one. Louis has brushed off his concerns though, and told _him_ that he’s fine and that he isn’t addicted to coffee thank you very much. As long as he can get stuff done at the bookstore he works at, and his homework for uni finished, then there’s nothing wrong. At that point in the argument, Harry would usually sigh exasperatedly and drop it. 

 

So Louis was fully aware of his shit sleeping schedule, but all the meds he was given when he was younger stopped working and really all that was left for him was lighting candles that were infused with sleeping spells and hoping for the best. The candles, the potions and the meditations allowed him only a few hours of sleep each night. So Louis lived with it, made his peace with his sleeping and made friends with strong coffee and the 24 hour cafe down the street from where he lived. The night baristas, these sweet girls named Jade and Leigh-Anne, knew him by name along with his order and how much coffee he always wanted, considering he was there basically every night. Another thing that he does when he’s so tired that he isn’t anymore is to take walks around the city and just stop thinking for a while. Liam keeps telling him that he’s gonna get mugged one day and Louis honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he did and didn’t even register it until an hour after the fact. 

 

The walks almost always end up with Louis at a small park towards the nice area of the city. He never manages to go inside it during the day, but he always sits on the swings and just exists for a while. By the time the sun is rising, Louis stumbles home to get an hour or so of sleep before facing the day. 

 

*=*=*=*

 

The only perk Louis had found to working at night is that wandering around when you’re sleep deprived during the day is an experience. Not necessarily an experience to be had per say, but an experience nonetheless. Of course on days he has classes, he is more coffee than a human being but that’s besides the point. Once he spent all day on the subway, just riding it and observing people and listening to music until his phone’s battery died. Then he struck up conversation with whoever was unlucky enough to sit next to him. When he told Harry about that at his that night, Harry told Liam who told Louis that he’s gonna get beat up one day. Liam specializes in worrying about Louis constantly, despite Louis telling him that he’s fine. 

 

Sometimes, Louis goes days without sleep and when that happens, Harry always has to wrestle him to sleep and stay with him. The only time Louis sleeps for more than two or three hours is when he’s with someone else and they are in bed with him. Which sucks for Louis, because he can’t just steal Harry whenever he wants to sleep for a full night because Liam would miss Harry. 

 

So he sucks it up and deals with his insomnia. Harry keeps gently suggesting seeing someone about it, but Louis doesn't have the time - ironically, he doesn't seem to have any time - or the money. So he deals. He texts his sisters when he knows they should be asleep as well, puts on Netflix shows for something to listen to, dives deep into Wikipedia, and goes on walks. 

 

Louis never admits that he's lonely, and just wants someone to spend the night with. 

 

*=*=*=*

 

Once a year, Louis buys himself a red balloon and goes to the largest tree he can find in the closest park. He’s been doing it since he was little, a habit he picked up from his mom. She explained to him once when he was very little that his great grandmother loved red balloons and every year on her birthday, she would buy one. When she had passed, Jay kept up the tradition with buying a red balloon. She told Louis that even the departed deserved a birthday celebration. When Louis got older, she explained to him that there are laws in place and every magical act uses energy that will someday get back to him so it’s a smart idea to honor the dead and the living alike. She also told him that it would be nice to say a happy spell when sending the balloon up. When Louis moved away for college, he did his best to keep up the tradition.

 

It was his Great Grandma’s birthday when Louis found himself with an actual day off and sort of well rested. He talked with his mom and sisters on the phone earlier and found an old blanket of his that he thought he left back home. Grabbing one of his many bags, Louis decided to head down to the park he always ends up at during his late night walks. He figured his combo of yellow pants, blue shirt, and red shoes would look weird but Louis honestly couldn’t bring himself to care. The weather was good, birds chirped at him as he walked past, he didn’t get any ads when using Spotify on the walk to the park, and Liam texted him saying that he was making gyros for dinner and asked if Louis wanted to come over. 

 

Louis bought his balloon and made his way to a small grassy hill that had a fairly large tree on it with a lot of leaves for shade. Dropping his bag on the ground, Louis kicked his shoes off and tied the balloon to his left foot. Laying down, Louis pulled out the blanket and set it on top of the bag, which made the perfect pillow. A bird slowly flitted down the branches, twittering questioningly at Louis. Louis whistled back and slowly crossed his left leg over his right one, watching the bird the whole time. The bird chirped happily at Louis before they flew down to perch on Louis’ stomach. Louis giggled and held out his right hand for them to hop onto. The bird hopped onto Louis’ finger and started chirping at him. 

 

The two of them held their positions for what could be considered a while. Eventually, Louis put his left arm behind his head on the makeshift pillow and held his hand up a little higher, encouraging the bird to fly off. They affectionately pecked his wrist before shaking out their wings and flying off. Louis smiled to himself, watching the bird for as long as he could before settling back down. Louis reached down for the red balloon and carefully slipped it off of his foot. Softly, he whispered a spell for happiness and safe travels before he released it with a gentle breeze to ensure that it didn’t get caught up in the branches. Relaxing back onto the grass, Louis closed his eyes and did his best to try and fall asleep. 

 

Louis got 20 minutes of rest before he got woken up by a large dog licking over his face and huffing. Slowly, Louis gently pushed the dog back and sat up. The dog barked at Louis, tail wagging a mile a minute and tongue lolling out of their mouth. Louis smiled and let the dog sniff his hand before he pet them. They barked again, quieter this time and laid down, resting their head on Louis’ lap. Louis absently pet the dog as he looked around the park, trying to find the owner. Louis gently moved the collar around to check their tags, but didn’t get a chance to read the name on the tags before he heard shouting. The dog lifted their head up and barked, tail wagging even faster. Louis looked up at the guy running towards where Louis was sitting. As he got closer, Louis noticed that he had blonde tips on his brown hair and was dressed way too nice for a casual day at the park. It was probably the glasses that upped his fancy score, but Louis couldn’t be sure. The dog barked happily and got up from where they were lying on Louis’ lap, running over to the person. 

 

“Ross how many times do I have to tell you to stay with me?” They guy asked, clipping the leash back onto the dog's collar. 

 

“Did you name your dog Ross?” Louis asked, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the guy. He laughed and smiled sheepishly. 

 

“Well my roomie named him. His full name is Bob Ross the Second but I just call him Ross because Bob is an odd name for a dog, you know?” Glasses rubbed the back of his neck shyly and Ross started running circles around him. 

 

“Bob Ross was a blessing on this planet honestly, your roomie made a solid choice of a name.” 

 

“Speaking of names, what’s yours?” Glasses asked, carefully unwinding the leash from around his legs.

 

“My name’s Louis, what’s yours?” 

 

“Niall. I’m sorry for how Ross was, he doesn’t usually do that.” Louis waved the apology off, and smiled up at Niall. 

 

“Don’t worry, it’s okay. He was very polite,” Louis said reassuringly, smiling up at Niall. Ross barked at the two of them, tugging at his leash to get Niall moving. Niall laughed and waved to Louis as he walked off with Ross, making their way to the lake. Louis waved back and smiled to himself, content with how the day has gone. 

 

*=*=*=*

 

Harry had dragged Louis out to some new cafe that opened up in the middle of downtown. The whole way there, Louis griped about how he’d been out enough and doesn’t need to go to some cafe. Harry silenced him with a look and simply stated that if Louis got out as much as he said he did, why did his roommate call Harry up complaining that Louis hadn’t been out in a couple days? Louis quietly grumbled at that and sat back, watching the buildings pass by outside the car. He wasn’t actually annoyed, he just didn’t see why he had to go to some cafe when there’s perfectly good coffee at home where there’s no forced social interaction. He got pulled out of his thoughts when Harry pulled into a parking lot for the cafe.

 

“Harry…” Louis started, looking at the cafe and then back at Harry, who was clearly doing his best to not laugh. 

 

“Yes Louis?” 

 

“Why did you tell me that we’re going to a hipster cafe and take me to a Starbucks?” 

 

“Because that’s just who I am as a person.” Harry said, getting out of the car. Louis started muttering insults at Harry under his breath as he got out of the car. 

 

“I am going to put nair in your shampoo you frog looking fuck,” Louis said, catching up with Harry who was busy texting someone, probably Liam. 

 

“You love my hair too much to do that,” Harry said, not even looking up from his phone as he held the door open for Louis. Louis rolled his eyes and walked into the Starbucks, looking back at Harry to make sure that he wouldn’t walk into the door again. Harry clearly wasn’t in a rush to come in so Louis just left him at the door and got into line. 

 

Louis got his iced coffee and made his way over to the comfortable seating area towards the back of the establishment. He had a strong feeling that Harry abandoned him at the Starbucks and left to assist Liam in some fitness thing or something. Sighing to himself, Louis was about to sit down when he noticed someone familiar who was sitting at one of the tables along the side of the wall. 

 

“Niall!” Louis called out as he made his way over to where Niall was sitting. Niall looked up at the sound and smiled up at Louis as he saw him approaching. Pulling one of the earbuds out of his ear, he kicked out the chair opposite of him for Louis to sit on. 

 

“Hey, how’ve you been?” Louis shrugged as he sat down, placing the coffee on the table in front of him.

 

“Been better, but I’m not too bothered really. What about you? How’s the dog?” 

 

“Ross is good,” Niall said as he paused whatever was playing on his phone and fully took out his headphones. “Hasn’t run at any other strangers which is good.” 

 

“Well what can I say, animals just like me,” Louis said, pretending to flip his hair to the right. Niall laughed when he noticed that Louis messed up his hair and then had to spend an additional minute just fixing it. The two of them sat in comfortable silence for a minute or so before Louis noticed that Niall’s phone case had some weird design on it.

 

“What’s that?” Louis asked, gesturing at the phone. Niall glanced down and shrugged. 

 

“Family symbol. It offers protection,” Niall said, running a finger along the side of the case. “Greg gave me it before I left.” 

 

Louis pulled at the leather cord of the necklace he was wearing, pulling it out from under his shirt. Thumbing the pendant, Louis laid it flat on his hand and showed it to Niall. 

 

“This is mine. My mom gave me it to me before I came down here for college,” Louis smiled to himself and put the necklace back under his shirt. “Lottie is thinking of getting it tattooed instead of a necklace. Mom isn’t too fond of it.” 

 

“Lottie?” Niall asked confused and tilted his head to one side. 

 

“My sister, Charlotte. She’s one of five.”

 

“ _Five_ sisters?” Niall asked incredulous. 

 

“And a brother. What about you?” Louis shrugged, sipping on his coffee.

 

“Just Greg, who’s older than me by seven years. Haven’t seen him in a while actually…” Niall let his sentence trail off as he checked his phone for text messages. The two of them lapsed into silence that felt really awkward to Louis. Sipping on his coffee, he looked around the back area, trying to come up with something to say. The silence seemed to stretch on forever before Louis rolled his eyes at himself and broke it. 

 

“You wanna get out of here?” He asked Niall, finally looking up at him.

 

“Oh fuck yes,” Niall sounded so relieved that Louis dropped his head back as he laughed. Smiling widely at Niall, Louis grabbed his hand and pulled him out the back door to go exploring the city. 

 

*=*=*=*

 

Despite his best efforts to avoid it, Liam managed to wrangle Louis into spending a day with him and Harry, out and about. The only reason that Louis agreed to it was the fact that Liam said that he’d invited another friend over so he wouldn’t be the awkward third wheel. Which was Liam speak for ‘I am going to set you up with one of my friends because I think that you’re lonely but I’m gonna disguise it under this thinly veiled plot to hang out.’ So Louis called up Niall.

 

“Hey so this is gonna sound weird,” Louis started when Niall picked up the phone. 

 

“Am I gonna regret giving you my number?” Niall asked in a complete monotone. Louis pressed a fist to his mouth, biting back a smile. 

 

“Probably, but that’s not the point,” Louis moved from his kitchen to the living room, sprawling out on the couch with his legs up on the back of it. “The point I’m trying to get at is that my friend Liam is inviting me to hang out for the day which is code for him trying to set me up with one of his or Harry’s friend’s since apparently I’m a lonely bachelor.”

 

“Is he wrong though is the question,” Niall said, still in a complete monotone for some reason. Clearly, Louis isn’t winning him over. 

 

“Niall! How dare you accuse me of being lonely, I am perfectly happy by myself.”

 

“Louis you called me a couple days ago crying because you were watching one of those old barbie movies because you missed your sister.” 

 

“A moment of weakness my dear pal-o-mine,” Louis said, waving his hand in a dismissive manner. At the other end of the line Niall let out a snort of laughter and Louis could practically see him rolling his eyes at him. 

 

“The _point_ is that I need someone to come with me to hang out with Liam and Harry and you were the first person I thought of, so.”

 

“So what you’re telling me is that I have to go with you to prevent Liam from trying to set you up with someone?” 

 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Louis slowly rolled himself off of the couch and onto his back on the floor, staring up at his spotty ceiling.

 

“I mean I guess I can sacrifice my night of staying in and finally starting on _Black Mirror_ to save you from whatever Liam has planned,” Niall said, a smile clear even through the phone. 

 

“Sick. How about after we can binge the show together at mine?” Louis asked, finally sitting up and going to his room to find clothes.

 

“Works for me. Should I get an Uber to yours, then we can go to Liam’s?” 

 

“Yeah, I live within walking distance of his and Harry’s anyway,” Louis had the phone pressed between his ear and shoulder as dug through the pile of clothes at the bottom of his closet, looking for something other than the ratty sweatpants he was wearing. The two of them talked for another minute or so, just confirming the time that Niall should come over before hanging up. Louis then shot a text to Liam, telling him that he was gonna bring a friend over. Liam sent back a string of emojis that didn’t make sense, which means that Harry had his phone. Rolling his eyes at both of his friends, Louis tossed his phone onto the bed and made his way to the bathroom for a shower. 

 

*=*=*=*

 

Apparently the person that Liam wanted to set Louis up with was Niall’s roommate Zayn, and he came regardless because, according to Niall, he hasn’t been out of the house in a while and his bad energy was clouding everything. Louis felt kinda bad for Zayn at first because Liam clearly told him that this was gonna be a double date type of thing. Louis however, was never one to do things in halves and decided to just go with it anyways with both him and Niall. So of course, that means embarrassing the fuck out of both Harry and Liam whenever the opportunity arised. 

 

At the moment the five of them were at some furniture store in the mall and Louis was doing his best to get kicked out. He kept making stuff float and follow people around, hiding behind Niall, Zayn and various furniture items, stifling his giggles in his hand or in Niall’s shoulder. Harry and Liam kept as much distance from the three of them as possible, trying their hardest to look they aren’t associated with any of them. Which made Louis double his efforts to embarrass them. 

 

He was about to mime doing something sexual with one of the pillows he found but before he could, he was approached by an employee who told him there were some complaints from other customers and that he had to leave. Louis grabbed Niall and Zayn by their jacket sleeves and pulled them out of the store. 

 

“What do you wanna do Zayn?” Louis questioned, turning to him once the three of them are out of the store. Zayn smiled at Louis gently and shrugged.

 

“Whatever Niall wants to do is fine with me.” 

 

“What do you want to do Niall?” Niall shrugged and looked around

 

“Wanna go to a clothing store full of clothes we can’t afford and cry over the prices?” Louis just laughs at that and links their arms together, before dragging all of them off to the nearest designer store.

 

*=*=*

 

Niall made himself right at home in Louis’ tiny living room, while Louis changed into comfier clothes and grabbed some snacks for their binge session of _Black Mirror_. Shuffling around the kitchen, he pressed a hand to his mouth, trying to quiet a yawn. Something about Niall just calms and slows him down enough to feel actually tired at the end of a day. Rubbing his eye, he gently waved his hand at the snacks and drinks which happily floated along behind him.

 

“I have sustenance, though I don’t know how much you’ll want to eat while watching…” Louis said, dropping down onto the couch next to Niall and waving his hand towards the coffee table, letting the snacks and drinks arrange themselves. 

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Niall questioned as he grabbed at one of the soda cans.

 

“You’ll see,” Louis said, grabbing the remote and quickly getting the first episode up. Louis tugged one of the many blankets on the couch over him and Niall. Curling into Niall’s side, Louis relaxed into him and for the first time in a while, he felt properly tired.

 

*=*=*=*

 

It became a thing then, for the two of them. After they made their way through all of _Black Mirror_ \- and Niall stayed the night for a week after because he had some weird dreams he wouldn’t tell Louis about - they then moved on to watching through all of _American Horror Story_. Sometimes though, the two of them would start out watching a couple episodes but then Louis would get restless and they started wandering around the city. Louis got to show Niall all of his old haunts.

 

The nights where they got to walk around were some of Louis’ favorite. The two of them would just walk in companionable silence for the most of it, Louis doling bits of his life back home before he moved out for university. Some of his favorite times to walk around the city were the hot and humid nights after a rainstorm when everything was soupy and kind of hazy around the edges. Those nights were soaked in the weird orange color of the streetlamps and tasted like milkshakes and salty fries Louis was fond of getting at the diner near his apartment building.

 

During the day when Louis didn’t have classes, Niall would take him to places he liked to hang out and introduce him to his friends. The two of them usually end up at the bar a couple blocks away from where Niall lives since that seems to be the main hangout area of Niall’s friend group. Everyone seemed to love Louis, which kind of surprised him really, since he thinks that he’s just too much for most people to want to be his friend. 

 

Louis felt as if Niall was a gift from the universe sometimes.

 

*=*=*=*

 

“You look more like a person now that you’ve been hanging out with Niall,” Harry told Louis one night when the two of them were having a late night walk around a park. Louis rolled his eyes and bumped his shoulder into Harry’s.

 

“Shut up frog man.”

 

“I mean it though.” Harry put an arm on Louis’, turning to face him. “I’ve known you for years Lou, and you have never looked this rested. Ever.”

 

Louis smiled softly and looked off towards the lake. “There’s something about him Haz, something better than a sleeping potion.” 

 

“He’s good for you,” Harry smiled as he kept walking, gently nudging Louis with an elbow. Louis nudged him back and looked up at the cloudy night sky, smiling to himself. 

 

“Yeah…”

 

*=*=*=*

 

The first time Louis thought the words _I love you_ in relation to Niall was a cold September morning when they were watching the watery sunrise from Louis’ kitchen. Louis looked over at Niall, who was washed in the gentle pinks and oranges of the sunrise and Louis was struck dumb by how beautiful he looked. Niall looked over at Louis, and his eyes were golden from the light and he looked so sleepy and soft and it just hit Louis out of nowhere that he was in love with Niall. The realization wasn’t something life changing, he figured what he felt for Niall wasn’t strictly platonic but he wasn’t going to spend forever analyzing his feelings. The moment felt more like a puzzle piece finally clicking into the correct spot after so long of wondering where it goes. 

 

“Oh…” Louis whispered softly, still looking at Niall. To his credit, Niall just smiled and tilted his head slightly.

 

“Oh?” He asked, laughter and confusion clear in his voice. Louis shook his head to clear his thoughts.

 

“Nothing to concern your pretty little head with Nialler.” Louis gently rubbed the top of his head. “Let’s get you into bed.”

 

“Alright Lou,” Niall said around a yawn, rubbing at his eyes and leaning into Louis. Louis smiled gently down at him and led him off to the bed. At that moment, Louis felt truly tired.

 

*=*=*=*

 

Louis slammed his hands down on the table at the cafe that Harry was sitting at. Harry barely glanced up at Louis and just used his long legs to kick out the chair opposite him. Huffing loudly, Louis dropped down into the chair and dropped his head onto the table.

 

“What’s up drama queen?” Harry asked in a bored tone, not looking up from his laptop.

 

“I’m in love with Niall,” Louis groaned against the slightly sticky table top. He couldn’t see what Harry’s expression was, but Louis could swear he felt Harry rolling his eyes. 

 

“Your point is what exactly?” Louis picked his head up from the table at that question and just stared at Harry, completely dumbfounded by the lack of a reaction.

 

“Harold,” Louis said tensely. “I am in _love with Niall_!”

 

“Yeah, it’s not like it’s a secret dude.” Harry closed his laptop lid as he said that and took a sip of the milkshake he had off to the side. “What’re you gonna do about it though?” 

 

Louis groaned loudly and hit his forehead against the table again. Yesterday the revelation wasn’t that big of a deal, but now it’s all he can think about. His brain is just a mess of kissing Niall as they watch the sunrise or sunset and every moment in between. His brain keeps supplying images of the two of them just holding hands all the time and his heart can’t take the sweetness.

 

“I just want to kiss him all the time and hold his hand and be gross like you and Liam,” He muttered into the table, rolling his head to look at Harry with one eye. Harry scoffed at him and waved the hand with a spoon in it around.

 

“You _wish_ that you and Niall could be as gross as Liam and I.”

 

“Fuck you Styles,” Louis said as he got out of the chair and stuck his tongue out at Harry. Harry, being the mature adult he is, simply flipped Louis off and opened his laptop back up. Muttering curses under his breath, Louis left the cafe to wander around the city and try to make sense of the jumbled mess in his head. 

 

Ever since he had the realization that he was in love with Niall, Louis couldn’t help but think of how good they would be together. Looking around his apartment most days, he can’t help but imagine Niall and Ross the dog fitting in all of the empty spaces. On the occasions where Louis actually ends up waking alone, the only thing his brain can supply is the fact that Niall would fit in so well next to him bed. Kissing him awake is a daily thought that Louis has to beat back with a metaphorical broom so he can just get out of bed. 

 

Louis figures that Niall might feel the same way, since he isn’t blind after all. Every so often he’ll catch glimpses of Niall looking at him when he thinks that Louis isn’t looking back. The amount of love in his expression always felt heady to Louis. There are long stretches of time where Louis just loses himself watching Niall doing the most mundane tasks.

 

*=*=*=*

 

Things came to a head in the middle of October.

 

Niall was curled up next to Louis on his bed, eyes fixated on the Disney movie the two of them were watching, absently munching on popcorn. Louis wasn’t paying any attention to the movie really, content to just watch Niall, the blue-purple light from the lava lamp hitting his face just right and making him look ethereal. Louis gently ran his hands through Niall’s hair, smiling at the happy hum he got in return.

 

As the credits started to play, Niall looked up at Louis and he just looked so _soft_ and _gentle_ that Louis didn’t think it through at all when he leaned down and pressed his lips to Niall’s. Niall made a soft noise of agreement and kissed back after a second or so, hands gently grabbing onto Louis’ shirt.

 

Louis heard about sparks and fireworks and the feeling of a hundred explosions going off at one upon kissing a person you truly love for the first time. Louis on the other hand, just felt warmth filling him from head to toe the longer the kiss went on. Gently, oh so gently, Louis pulled Niall on to him fully, gripping his biceps tightly. 

 

Eventually, Niall pulled back and smiled dopily down at Louis. Shaking his head fondly, Louis grabbed the front of Niall’s shirt again and pulled him back down for another kiss. If he got to do this for the rest of his life, Louis would live a happy life.

 

***

 

Louis was ready to fight both Liam and Harry to the death. Well maybe not fight them to the death per se, but he was going to have some words with the two of them when they got home from their fucking _honeymoon_.

 

“Niall I can’t believe they got married and didn’t tell us,” Louis grumbled, glaring down at the image Harry sent an hour ago. Niall huffed out a laugh and wrapped his arms around Louis, resting his head on Louis’ shoulder.

 

“I mean it was gonna happen eventually,” Niall said, pressing a kiss to Louis’ temple. 

 

“Yeah but he could’ve told us!” Louis exclaimed, indignant that his two best friends went off and got married without notifying anyone. Sighing loudly, Louis sent Harry back the middle finger emoji and the angry purple devil emoji. Niall giggled into his neck and gently tugged his phone out of Louis’ hands, tossing it onto the couch.

 

“C’mon, let’s go watch the sunset.” Niall grabbed Louis’ hands and pulled him off of the couch and towards the balcony. 

 

Watching the sunset became their thing after a while. Even when it was freezing out and the sunset was at four in the afternoon, the two of them kept it up and just sat in complete silence with some warm drink. Most of the time Louis didn’t even watch the sunset. He much preferred to watch Niall watch the sunset. Tonight wasn’t any different. The two of them were curled up on the chairs, Niall watched the sun sink behind the buildings and Louis watched how the colors saturated Niall’s face.

 

Louis felt like loving Niall is kind of like watching the sunsets in the middle of nowhere. It’s all soft gentle pinks and blues and purples and the color slowly fades to reveal a sea of inky black with little stars dotted all around it. Whenever Louis was able to get out of the city and was finally able to see the stars again, he was filled with wonder at just how big the world is no matter how small he feels. Being in love with Niall made him feel like the world is bigger than it really is. 

 

“Hey Niall?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Wanna get married?” 

 

“Yeah… I’d love to.” Niall beamed at Louis and leaned over to kiss him gently. Louis smiled into the kiss and pulled back after a minute, resting his forehead on Niall’s.

 

“I love you,” he whispers gently, eyes still closed.

 

“I love you too Lou,” Niall whispered back just as soft. Louis bit back a grin and kissed him again. If Louis could take this moment in time and preserve it the way he preserves flowers between the pages of his books, he would in a heartbeat.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are hugely appreciated. 
> 
>  
> 
> [tumblr](https://grapesodalou.tumblr.com)


End file.
